The Savior
by Ragnaz
Summary: A young man discovers the driving force behind a group of Fomors that could result in the end of his world.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Garm could not believe it. This armor wearing stranger had somehow managed to decimate his scouting party. And now the stranger had Garm by the throat, demanding that he tell him where the prize they had raided from the town earlier was. Garm knew that the Chieftain would be furious if he told the stranger, and that fear was the only thing keeping his mouth shut as the stranger dangled him by the throat over the chasm. The stranger squeezed tighter and Garm let out a yelp.

"Where is she!" the man demanded, "Tell me where she is now and your death shall be swift!"

Garm looked down into the chasm and saw the countless beady eyes of the spiders that had gathered under his flailing body, hoping for a feast. The thought of being devoured alive by the spiders forced him into telling the man what he wanted to know. As the man threw Garm into the pit he watched the spiders gathering around his flailing body. He left the spiders to their meal and continued on with his job.

1 day later….

Aidan sat down next to the crumbling pillar and took off his helmet. He had been traveling for days tracking a group of gnolls that had recently attacked a nearby village and taken away the daughter of the mayor. Being a mercenary captain of the Red Sword, he had been summoned to find the mayor's daughter and bring her back safely. As he finished making his campfire and boiled some water for stew, his mind wandered back to the mayor's house.

The mayor had shown him a painting of his daughter, named Terra. She had been wearing an elegant yellow dress, and the one thing he noticed most of all was her green eyes. He had been told the details of how she had been taken but he could not stop staring at the portrait. From what he knew he was getting close to the group of gnolls that had taken Terra.

As Aidan began to eat a much needed meal of stew, bread, and a meager amount of clean water, he surveyed his surroundings. Amongst the ruins of crumbled stones and broken pottery, he noticed that there was a light in the distance of the ruins. As he stuffed a small piece of bread in his mouth he put down his stew and gulped down the last of his water. He took up one of his swords and sneaked towards the light, ducking and weaving between fallen pillars, upturned ancient pots, and gnarled roots. Once he got to within a few yards of the light he noticed that it was a gnoll encampment.

"I found you at last you little bastards." he whispered to himself. If his information he had gotten from other mercenaries was correct, when they took prisoners they were kept on the outskirts of the camp. As he snaked his way towards the nearest tent, he slit a small hole just large enough for him to see through. He managed to make out a large, red mass of fur in the corner of the tent. This was clearly the Chieftain of this group of gnolls. As he moved towards another tent he noticed that this one was guarded by a sentry of 2 gnolls, one at the front and one at the back. The one at the back was clearly asleep, but needed to be taken care of before he could see what was in the tent. As he crept closer he shot out one hand, grasping the gnoll's jaw together and burying his sword in the gnoll's throat. As he slit another small hole in the fabric, he glimpsed a small form, huddled in the corner. He had managed to find the tent the gnolls kept their captives in.

Once he had opened up a hole large enough to get his entire body inside, he silently made his way towards the girl and placed a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming and alerting the remaining sentry. He whispered in her ear, "Is your name Terra?" She nodded once. "My name is Aidan and your father sent me to get you. Follow me outside." As he let his hand drop off her mouth he cut off the ropes that bound her wrists and feet together and he helped her through the hole he had made earlier.

As Terra tried to stand up, her legs gave way and she collapsed to the ground. Aidan noticed that she looked like she hadn't eaten in a while. He placed her hands around his neck and put her body on his back and proceeded to carry her past the Chieftain's tent. As he passed it she buried her head into his back and squeezed his neck tighter. He realized that she had probably been abused by the gnolls when she refused to go with them quietly. It made his anger rise but he could do nothing until the girl was safe back in his camp.

Back at Aidan's Camp….

Aidan laid Terra down on his sleeping bag and covered her body. After managing to feed her a small amount of his leftover stew, she had quickly fallen asleep from exhaustion. As he watched her sleep he realized that her face was bruised and had a small gash on her forehead. He knew that it was foolish but he had to leave her there or the sentry he had left alive would notice that the prisoner was missing sooner or later. As he picked up his remaining sword and donned his helmet he made his way back towards the gnoll encampment as dawn broke over the ruins.

End of Chapter One


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Terra awoke with a start to the smell of burnt wood and stale food. As she looked around and noted the leftover eating utensils she wondered how she had gotten there. Then she remembered being carried away from the camp by a young man who had hefted her on his back. Sitting up, she scanned her surroundings searching for the young man who had rescued her only to find him nowhere to be seen. Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, she grabbed a cracked pot lying near the burned out fire and hid near a fallen pillar.

At the gnoll camp…

Aidan had been battling the gnolls for nearly an hour but there was just no end to them. He had suffered a cut to his side and an arrow had moments ago pierced a hole in his armor and embedded itself into his right shoulder rendering it useless. He had still managed to thin the number of gnolls to a more manageable number after decapitating, disemboweling and hacking their comrades to lifeless bodies. He was tiring quickly and losing a lot of blood fast but he had managed to leave just the Chieftain alive. Aidan knew that the Chieftain was strongest of all the gnolls in both battle prowess and mental capacity, a tough foe to beat even if he had use of both arms. The Chieftain roared a battle cry filled with rage and pure hatred. Charging towards the Chieftain, he barely managed to dodge the incoming blow from the gnoll chieftains' giant hammer that still knocked him off balance sending him crashing into a gnoll archers limp corpse. Getting up his vision blurred; he had to end the battle and soon or he'd blackout from blood loss and be an easy target for the chief. He took a quick chance to survey his surroundings and noticed a pillar that was leaning dangerously to one side. If he managed to get it to collapse on the chieftain he could end the fight and be able to return to the safety of his camp. The only problem was that the chieftain was between him and the collapsing pillar.

"Dammit" he muttered to himself, "why the hell are you guys so huge?"

Charging towards the chieftain once more, he shifted his weight to dodge the incoming blow and sliced along the chieftains back leg, cutting into his hamstrings and crippling him. As he made his way quickly towards the falling pillar he shoved it with all his might and watched it crash down on the Chieftain. Seeing his chance, he hurried back towards his encampment.

On the outskirts of Aidan's camp….

Terra saw a lumbering mass as she hid behind the crumbling pillar. Gripping the broken pot so hard her knuckles turned white she lunged out at the shape hearing the sound of a grunt and something heavy hitting the ground. When she actually looked at the thing on the ground she realized it was a man wearing armor suffering from what seemed to be cuts and an arrow wound in the side. She knew that she needed to remove the arrow first to stop the bleeding but she had only read books about how to do so. She checked to see if it was barbed first, and seeing that it wasn't she placed one hand on the mans shoulder and heaved the arrow out of his body, quickly followed by a constant flow of blood. She ripped her dress into strips and began bandaging the wounds as best she could. After managing to staunch most of the wounds she went to work using one the one thing she thought would help: her magic. She had never revealed to any of the townspeople that she possessed this special skill, and only her father knew she had such skills.

"How could I have been so stupid?" she said to herself.

Back at the Battlefield…

A figure clad in a dark robe walked amongst the chaos that had happened only moments before kicking the lifeless bodies of the gnolls when they got in his way as he maneuvered towards the chieftains dead body.

"You have failed me once again and for the last time." He muttered as he reached towards the gnoll chieftains chest and removed a tiny stone that was melded to the gnolls flesh.

"But I know one who will not." He said as he gripped the rock in his hand.

End of Chapter 2


End file.
